Novo Nordisk, a leader in diabetes care, is the largest global manufacturer of insulin. The new center will combine Novo Nordisk's longstanding history of innovation and diabetes treatment with the company's growing expertise in immunotherapy.

The event featured a keynote address from Governor Chris Gregoire, as well as remarks from Congressman Jim McDermott (WA-7), Novo Nordisk's Senior Leadership, key community leaders, and local diabetes patients.

"This new research facility represents hope for everyone affected by type 1 diabetes," said Gov. Gregoire. "Developing better treatments for this chronic and costly disease and the possibility of even finding a cure is a critically important mission as the number of people with type 1 diabetes continues to increase. The State of Washington looks forward to the innovation that will take place here in close collaboration with the local and national research communities in type 1 diabetes."

The unique concept behind the new center is to pursue a translational research approach characterized by combining basic research and early proof-of-concept trials under one umbrella. This integrated research approach provides the necessary scientific foundation to move early-stage discovery projects rapidly from animal models into small clinical exploratory trials in type 1 diabetes.

Novo Nordisk was drawn to Seattle because of its strong reputation for public-private scientific collaboration and the talented biotech researchers who work here.

"The diabetes R&D center is a welcome addition to the City of Seattle. The opening of this facility will represent 20 new jobs for our scientific community and an opportunity to showcase Seattle's biotech hub," remarked Rep. McDermott.

The opening of this center will re-focus efforts on type 1 diabetes, a condition that has lacked major scientific progress in recent years. In the past decade, type 2 diabetes has been the main focus among diabetes researchers and pharmaceutical companies because of the dramatic rise in the number of people living with the disease. Type 1 diabetes is a different disease that requires life-saving treatment with insulin.

"This center will provide opportunities to accelerate our researchers' best ideas and make real progress in bringing treatment advances to people with type 1 diabetes," said Matthias von Herrath, MD, a world-renowned researcher in auto-immune diseases and head of the new Novo Nordisk diabetes research center. "We are driven by the company's mandate to find a cure for type 1 diabetes something that is unique for the pharmaceutical industry today."

The new center, which will be fully operational this summer, is located on the same premises as the Novo Nordisk Inflammation Research Center in order to foster natural research synergies between the two sites.

About Novo NordiskHeadquartered in Denmark, Novo Nordisk is a global healthcare company with 88 years of innovation and leadership in diabetes care. The company also has leading positions within hemophilia care, growth hormone therapy and hormone replacement therapy. For more information, visit www.novonordisk.com. For more information about our US activities, follow us on Twitter at @novonordiskus.